Help health practitioners, carers and individuals find your valuable outdoor health service! We are about to relaunch our Outdoor Health Service Directory, thanks to support from the Victorian department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions. If you provide any kind of outdoor health services, from self-guided education programs to clinical care, we would love to … Read more
Wondering about the research informing Bush Adventure Therapy? Check out our research archive. With thanks to Dr Daniel Bowen for compiling this summary.
At the annual general meeting held on 5 October 2022, AABAT members made the following decisions with a very strong majority: Outdoor Health Australia will remain a not-for-profit, with our new constitution opening the door for us to register as a health promotion charity in the future. You can learn more about the decision to … Read more
Over the last 3 years, with guidance from Aboriginal and specialist mentors Aunty Judy Atkinson, Uncle Ken Jones, Carlie Atkinson, Luke Mabb and Jacob Prehn, input from AABAT members and proponents of related nature-based health practices, and discussions with wide-ranging policy makers, the Policy Unit has progressed a number of specific goals and objectives. Consistent with AABAT’s roots, collaboration and consultation continue to be deeply valued and central to the work of AABAT’s Policy Unit.
In 2020, AABAT’s Outdoor Healthcare Policy Unit sought Expressions of interest to contribute to a substantial literature review and published report. As a result of this Call, the Policy Unit arranged to supervise Deakin University Master of Social Work Student Josh McClean to undertake the proposed study. Josh’s Literature Review Report is in its final stages and will be released in 2021. The below overview illustrates our original hopes for the project.
Recent research demonstrates that ‘contact with nature’ improves human physical and mental wellbeing, and that ‘connection to country’ is vital for place-based peoples; perhaps all peoples. In recent times, mainstream Australians have become more aware of the physical and mental health benefits of time in nature, and many have become more intentional about going outdoors for health, wellbeing and healing.
The following list of hypotheses are supported and are yet to be comprehensively reviewed or trialled…